Among the Grass Trees: We have a slab.

But before I get to my main point...so much has happened and I've neglected to post progress notes... here's the update so far:

December 2013.

Since the end of December last year there has been foundation works going on up at the block. It was a little surreal for us to finally see some groundwork being done... by December 29 we could at last see the place where our house would actually sit.

That little solo grasstree is being spared (great work Scott!) so it will be what we see when we look out our kitchen window!

--ooOoo--

About a month later...

More ground prep work has been done. There are issues with the fact that the surface layer of soil is very shallow and basically we are trying to build on solid rock. This is great for stability but not so great for the budget, because it means they have to get a rock-breaker in to prepare for laying the plumbing etc. This unfortunately also means the grey water system we wanted to install will be too cost prohibitive. It also means that Kristen has been singing that Goanna classic to us "standing on solid rock, standing on sacred ground, living on borrowed tiiime..."

--ooOoo--

February 1...

They have pegged out the position of the house.

--ooOoo--

February 23...

And they've put in foundations for the retaining wall. Trenches have also been dug out for the footings of the slab.

--ooOoo--

March 2...

Besser blocks laid down over the foundations... so we have a retaining wall now! Also some reobar has been chemset into the rock - further preparations for slab.

--ooOoo--

March 8...

Crusher dust laid out - final prep for the slab. The in-slab plumbing is in position - you can see the PVC pipes sticking out of the ground where they will enter the slab. Timber form-work is in position. More rock breaking has been done to allow positioning plumbing of waste-water removal down to the waste water treatment system. More reobar is in position too. We can see the house's footprint now!